The 19th edition of MOTELX is set to take place from September 9 to 15 at Cinema São Jorge, with a highlight being the appearance of Gale Anne Hurd in Lisbon. Hurd, a producer and screenwriter known for her unparalleled work on films such as ‘Aliens’, ‘The Abyss’, ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, and ‘Armageddon’, will be present.
Gale Anne Hurd will receive the Noémia Delgado Award for Outstanding Women in Horror in September, a prize established by MOTELX to “recapture the memory of pioneering female authors—often forgotten—and simultaneously celebrate new female talents redefining contemporary horror.”
The award is named after the poet and director Noémia Delgado (1933-2016), “a pioneer of fantasy in Portuguese cinema and genre cinema created by women,” the organization emphasizes.
The program announced today continues to emphasize Portuguese cinema, particularly with three feature films competing for the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Feature: ‘Sombras’, Jorge Cramez’s first venture into horror, ‘A Pianista’ by Nuno Bernardo, and ‘Crendices’, “the first horror film entirely from Madeira, produced by the comedic group 4Litro.”
Twelve films are vying for the award for Best Portuguese Horror Short, showcasing “the vitality of national horror” while addressing social issues such as housing insecurity in ‘O próximo passo’ by Pedro Batalha, or mental health in ‘Resut’ by Mafalda Jacob.
The Portuguese entries for the Méliès d’Argent Award for Best European Short Film include, among others, ‘Grito’ by Luís Costa, the animated films ‘Sequencial’ by Bruno Caetano and ‘Amarelo Banana’ by Alexandre Sousa, and ‘Borbulha’ by Fernando Alle.
In the ‘Cult Room’ section, MOTELX will host the Portuguese premiere of ‘Los mil ojos del asesino’, an Italian-Spanish espionage thriller directed by Juan Borsch, filmed in Lisbon just months before the April 25, 1974, revolution.
Lisbon was chosen as the location for this film—also shot in Barcelona and Rome, inspired by James Bond and martial arts—”because it was an economically accessible city where, at the time, political leaders were keen on projecting a positive image abroad,” explains the festival.
MOTELX will also screen, among others, the comedy ‘A Useful Ghost’ by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, awarded this year at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, ‘Opus’, the directorial debut of journalist Mark Anthony Green featuring Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, and the previously announced Brazilian film ‘Enterre seus mortos’ by Marco Dutra.
In addition to film screenings, MOTELX will host the inaugural edition of the Digital Film Festival on September 10 and 11, described as “a space for exchange and innovation among different audiovisual content producers.”
